This is the shocking moment a young student runs off terrified across a basketball court when a ball suddenly explodes just as he is about to pick it up.

The incident was captured on surveillance video inside the court in Hebei Province, in northern China, on Friday noon, 2nd February.

In the video, a few young boys are seen playing in small groups shooting hoops.

One student, wearing a black tracksuit and white trainers, who was not named in local media, could be seen walking towards a basketball ball with the intent to pick it up and play.

But right before he bent down, he appeared to notice something unusual on the ball.

The next second, he ran off shouting as the basketball unexpectedly exploded with a thunderous bang as if a bomb had gone off, and split into two.

The incident sparked curiosity among netizens on Douyin. China’s version of TikTok, where the clip went viral with more than 180,000 likes and over 80,000 shares in just a few days.

One user titled ‘Explosive’ commented: “How did he figure it out?”

User ‘. . . .’ wrote: “When the basketball explodes, there is a sound of string snapping. Don’t ask me how I know that.”

And ‘Big fish eats small fish’ wrote: “I had a ball that was too inflated and I tried to play with it. It got a lump after playing it for a while and it exploded on the way home. Fortunately, I was carrying it in a bag.”